


War and Love

by snowynight



Category: Marvel
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Angst, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Mecha, Multi, Oblivious, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-23
Updated: 2012-08-23
Packaged: 2017-11-12 17:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/493669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the humanity is struck by an alien invasion, the hope of the world lies on teenagers who step into their mechas to fight off the enemies, but the dangers lies not only to the body, but also to the heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	War and Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for AU Bigbang. Listen to the fantastic fanmix: [Love in War Time](http://8tracks.com/labyrinthine/love-in-wartime)

Humanity was struck by a incurable disease that was called Bliss. The victim would first feel tiredness, then subsuming to sleep and never woke up again. They looked peaceful, as if they’re having a pleasant dream, but they were not responding to the outside environment. Most adults got the disease within a week, causing the society to collapse and children had to go on the street to fend for themselves. It made the Earth completely vulnerable to the incoming alien invasion. .  
  
Tony lives out a life that he recalled strongly of the Lord of flies: fear, violence, doubt. He hid in tunnels and pits, now that New York became a deadly urban hunting ground. The only light in the dark was meeting Steve, who became a dear friend to him. They struggled together to survive, and many nights they leaned on each other, unspeakably counting the remaining days they’d have together.   
  
But fortunately that was not the end of their story. Tony and Steve were found by Luke, who told him that there was a small hope for humanity: A small group of survivors, led by a still-waking adult, have managed to reverse engineer the alien remotes, and had used this technology to make a new generation of weapons that could be used to strike at humanity’s enemies in their world of dreams. At first Tony had been in doubt until he saw the ANIMa in action. Tony decided to become a pilot, and Steve volunteered to be his anchor ever since.   
  
Luke and Jessica were among the very few adults who remained wakeful and even reared a baby - a sign of courage in the backdrop of alien invasion. Luke was more on the alien fighting front and Jessica Jones was responsible for the site security and reinforcement. They were both good leaders, though Tony always had the worry that one day he would hear Dani crying, and ran ahead to Luke and Jessica’s room and found that they were in eternal Bliss.  
  
Tony shrugged off the thought and focused on the current situation. In some ways, he wasn’t exactly a human - only his brain and heart remained the unmodified parts in his body. It ensured his survival later from time to time when the known world went to an end. It wasn’t what he expected when he was modified, but who knew? He put up his hand and thought without any humour about how his tech was used this day.   
  
The group of teenagers Luke and Jessica managed to gather besides Tony and Steve were Logan, Sentry, Jessica Drew, Carol, Peter and MJ. Jessica Drew and Carol came around similar time and formed strong bond, and it wasn’t surprising for them to work in pair. So were Peter and MJ. Tony was surprised that Sentry and Logan managed to work together so far. Logan was all “no way I’d leave the world to ya.” and Sentry kept to himself a lot. But from Logan and Jessica ’s body modification, Tony could guess that they didn’t have an easy life outside either.   
  
Steve and Tony were just walking back to the base, smiling because they scavenged electrical units that could be useful to the team when they noticed that the warning lights flashed. Tony and Steve looked at each other, throwing down the parts they scavenged, and ran to the meeting room. There others were already present. Luke was frowning, and he said, "An alien threat’s approaching the base! Tony, strap up to the machine and Steve ready to be the anchor. The others get ready too"  
  
"Yes, sir," Steve said and he pulled Tony to go to the ANIMa machine room. There he helped Tony to be dressed in a special suit, plugged into a startling array of monitoring technology, suspended into a vat of motion resistant goo and then fed induced brain waves on an alien frequency, that even Tony could not understood well.  
  
At the core of the creche are large chunks of the brain of an alien drone. Tony had a theory this was what actually made the machine work, but no one dared to let him experimented on it. The whole thing was elaborate, and built mostly from guesswork, intuition, and more than a little faith.  
  
Once Tony was ready, Steve's job was to monitor the pilot’s vital signs and spoke to him via a special close-circuit radio headset, carefully guiding him through the mission and interpreting the readings that he was taking as sensory images so that Tony might process them. Tony would call on his relationship with other people to form the specialized armour.  
  
"Testing, testing! Tony, do you hear me?" Steve said.  
  
"Lord and clear!"  
  
"Okay, good. Now, open your eyes, really slowly. When you open your eyes you’re going to see the outside of the base, but with the blurring and the shifting that we’ve seen in the practice runs. Are you with me?"  
  
"Yes. I'm forming my Anima."  
  
Tony's armour was red and gold, with jetpack and repulsor gun that could be shot from their hands. When he was ready, he flew toward the alien and fired his first shot. There was a thick fog before him, but it didn’t affect his targeting system.  
  
The shot hit the target. There was an explosion and Tony proceeded to attack. The fog then dispersed, and Tony paused when he saw---  
  
"Tony, what're you seeing?"  
  
"I'm landing on a bridge and then... I think I see Jarvis!"  
  
"Tony, calm down. I receive no special signals. You know that Jarvis 's at Stark Mansion."  
  
"But... All right, I'll proceed."  
  
Tony shrugged off the illusion and kept attacking at the alien. He swiftly evaded the alien’s shot and then finally brought the alien down. The body disappeared in a puff, liked the others did.   
  
The mission was successful. Tony destroyed the enemy, ensured his own safety and mostly managed control of the dream land. Steve helped Tony out and congratulated him. He must have seen Tony’s face though, because Steve brought him to the study and said, "You're thinking about Jarvis again."  
  
Tony nodded. Steve understood him well enough that Tony found it hard to lie to him.   
  
“One day we’ll develop a cure for Bliss,” Tony said.   
  
“Of course,” Steve said.   
  
They leaned against each other, Tony sensing the warmth radiated from Steve’s body and wished that time could stop. However, what he wished never came true when Jessica Drew said, “Come here.”  
  
There was a debriefing. Everyone was glad for no casualty, no damage incurred on the pilots and the anchors. But the relaxed moment didn’t last for long when Jessica Jones told them that they had to be ready for another patrol mission because a gang was spotted near the base.   
  
Carefully, they equipped themselves with weapons and followed the trace left by the gang. When they located the gang, they found that the gang was armed with bombs, sticks and other weapons. They had been hovering near their base and clearly they didn’t have good intention. Time to fight.   
  
Tony fired a repulsor shot at the one holding explosive, not enough to lethal, but enough to seriously hurt. Steve took out his shield that Tony made for him and rushed into the gang, knocking down one and kicked the other. Logan stretched out his claw to fight and Jessica Drew shot venom at the gang. Sentry fought with them with his brutal strength. Soon they defeated, disarmed and drove off the gang.   
  
When they returned, MJ suggested to play a game of cards and Peter readily agreed. Tony couldn’t help but smiled at them as they were the youngest among them, they still maintained the most hope and joy. They sat down and played, with Logan hovering from behind, looking at them quietly. Sentry played for awhile. Then he said he was tired enough and withdrew himself, leaving the others in the game.   
  
“What ‘s your hope after all this?” MJ asked.   
  
Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Steve said, “I want to bring hope to the next generation. A generation that no longer know about Bliss and aliens, free from fear of both of them.”  
  
“You’re still so serious,” Tony said, but he was actually moved by Steve’s words. Steve’s honesty was moving.   
  
MJ then asked, “What do you want, Tony?”  
  
“To destroy and drive off the aliens,” he said.   
  
“So do I,” Carol said.   
  
“I hope we can find a cure for Bliss, but I guess Steve said it better,” Peter said.   
  
Just like that, the easy atmosphere was lost. Tony thought of Jarvis, and he was sure the others had people to think of. Logan left abruptly.  
  
Jessica Drew put a hand on Peter’s shoulder, “Our hope’ll come true.”  
  
Tony wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t say anything.   
  


* * *

  


Finally the game was finished and people scattered. Peter and MJ went hands in hands, while Jessica Drew and Carol walked up to the roof, a site that they all silently assigned for a dating ground and not to disturb. Tony and Steve left the latest, because Steve insisted on staying up to tidy up the place. They then went to their room and sat on the bed together. 

“Remember the first time we met?” Tony asked

“Of course, you nearly blasted my head off.”. 

Tony remembered not so fondly about that moment. At that time his instinct was set to kill. He was really glad that he paused. He shivered for how close he had been to killing Steve. 

“I always forgot to ask you what made you pause.”

“Because of your puppy-eyes.”

“I don’t have puppy eyes!”

“You do!”

“Do not!”

The argument degenerated into a tickling fest, where they laughed and mercilessly tickled each other. Tony was finally above Steve and was about to say something, but he looked at his shiny eyes and blushed face, and suddenly forgot what he was thinking. 

They stalled. Then Tony pulled himself off Steve. They were silent, and then Tony said, “I’m taking a shower now.” 

Steve didn’t say anything.  


* * *

  
This time it was Carol’s turn to be on a recon mission. She was linked up to the machine and Jessica watched the panel carefully. Steve and Tony were there to provide support as Carol could make use of them in forming her weapon. 

“All right, Carol, do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“So what do you see?”

“I see that a forest’s expanding rapidly. With this rate it’s going to eat up New York. I’ll get closer to investigate. “

“Be careful.”

Carol continued the investigation and everything went smoothly. Tony was glad, but there was a tint of worry. Things seemed to go too smoothly recently. He somehow expected disasters to come. Luckily, his worry was unfounded and Carol woke up naturally. When she left the machine, Jessica gave her a big hug, “Well done!” 

Carol kissed Jessica on her lips. Tony looked at Steve and they nodded at each other, retreating quickly.   


* * *

  
Time passed, and their reconning missions finally paid off. With the intel they collected and the acquisition of other ANIMa, Luke thought that it was time to be more aggressive and planned for an attack on a small alien base nearby.   


* * *

  
Tony’s worry became true, however, when they launched an attack toward the alien base. The dimension they encountered was like a tropical forest, only that the plants could move and attack by themselves, and the aliens looked like carnivorous plants . Tony proceeded smoothly, using a ricocheting attack to bring down several aliens. Carol and Jessica were doing great too as Carol chopped down the vines and brought down the aliens with the weapon equipped to her armour. Peter and MJ were not doing so fine though. The aliens managed to land a shot on Peter. However, Sentry and Logan encountered the worst, with the aliens’ vines and roots tangling Sentry’s armour. Tony shot at the vines and roots and freeing Sentry, but Sentry seemed to get out of control and shot at Carol. Carol at that time was tangling with an alien and not quite avoided the attack. Tony could hear Carol groaning and finally Sentry needed an emergent withdrawal. The others withdrew not long after that.   


* * *

  
When they returned to the base, Jessica‘s eyes were cold and she pulled Sentry away to the study, and Tony could hear that there was an argument. Jessica didn’t shout. But her words seemed stronger because of it. “What were you doing back there? Carol nearly died.” Sentry said something, and Jessica ‘s further words were dripped with venom. Logan disappeared just as what he usually did. When Jessica and Sentry walked outside the study, they both looked angry. In the past after a battle Jessica was among the few people to talk with Sentry, but after the argument Jessica ignored him completely. As a broken relationship would not only affect the people working together here, but also their ability to fight with the alien, the others tried to be a mediator and talked with Jessica, but they failed to convince her. Finally Luke and Jessica Jones intervened. They pulled Sentry and Jessica aside to talk behind a thick door and it seemed to work, at least Jessica behaved more polite with Sentry.   


* * *

  
Tony was almost relieved to go on a trade mission because even he was affected by the tense atmosphere inside the base. They relied on many trade contact with other groups to bring in food, medicine and others they needed. In exchange, they did repair work for the other groups. It was a delicate power balance and usually Tony’d rather spend time tinkering with things than doing diplomacy, but this day he needed a break. Jessica Jones agreed to it, and Steve came along with them. 

When they were walking along the path, Tony could see the ruins of New York: the remaining frames of cars crashed together, the billboard which dropped due to no maintenance and the broken glass on the road, the source of which coming from gangs breaking in the shops. Not far away there was a collapsed building. A child calmly lit a fire to cook a skinned rat probably caught in the sewage beside a dead body. Feral dogs roamed the street. They didn’t fear people, and hunger had turned them into effective pack of killing animals. Tony did have the weapon, but he preferred to reserve the energy for his survival. Humans were a bigger threat in this aspect. Civilization as Tony knew ended long ago, and this only stressed the loss humanity endured. The nature was fighting back too. Some of the damaged pavements were turning into brushes and Tony estimated maybe after several generations (if there were still generations) New York would turn back into the pre-Colombian state of forest. 

Finally they arrived at their destination - a warehouse. Tony was more relaxed here as this another base of ANIMa was headed by Danny Rand, a friend of both Jessica Jones and Luke. He guessed that was the reason Jessica Jones agreed so readily. Actually, Tony sensed that there was something weird about the three of them, the way they looked, they way they travelled and stayed together, but Tony decided not to think too much about them. It only led to headache. 

“Jessica! How’s Luke?” Danny bounced on his heels. So much energy was radiated from him that Tony had wondered for several time if they could harness it for an energy source. Then they wouldn’t need to fear their generator going out. 

When the adults were doing adult talk, Tony was led by Clint to the fridge that needed to be repaired. Tony sat down on the floor, taking out his tools from his tool box, and wondered what’d his father say when he saw that his son’s MIT education was finally spent on manual repair. But he was dead, and the dead had no right to an opinion. 

Clint sat by Steve and their friendly discussion soon turned into wrestling. Clint and Steve had an unusual dynamic, in which Clint was like a younger brother to Steve, with all the troubles and nuisance coming with such things, while Steve was like a bigger brother Clint secretly wanted. Steve behaved much more his age when he was with Clint, and Tony was glad with that, despite a tint of jealousy

Ignoring them, Tony unplugged the fridge, removed the service panel over the back rear portion of the unit below the door, fastened the probes of the resistor to the terminals of the capacitor to discharge it, and disassembled the fridge. Luckily the problem was simply with the door and Tony solved it in a short time. 

Danny told them to stay for a meal together, and persuaded Jessica to stay. Piedro, Clint’s fast-tempered partner, joined them. There was always an annoyance in his eyes, but Tony learnt to deal with Piedro and knew that despite his brash temper, he could be a friend. Wanda and Jan were there too, talking and smiling. Tony always like to meet them because of their intelligence. The meal was rich for their standard, and Tony was slightly guilty that Danny and the others probably spared food for them. 

After the meal, Steve came out with Clint and Piedro to catch birds while Tony stayed with Wanda and Jan. They discussed mathematics, the many uses of plants and daily life. By unwritten consensus, they managed not to mention Bliss and ANIMa. Just this moment they could pretend that they were just teenagers interested in science, not soldiers with a ticking time bomb strapped to their bodies, with the time passing by. Tony was about the same age as Jan and Wanda, and they all didn’t have much time left. 

They were talking about group theory when Jan paused and asked, “How’s thing between Steve and you?”

“Fine. We work great together and he’s my best friend.”

“You know I’m not asking you about that.”

“What’s more do you want to know?”

Wanda said, “You can tell him about your feeling. There’s no need to hide.”

“We are friends, and it’s just like that.”

“Tony,” Wanda put a stress on his name. 

“All right. But what do you two want me to tell him? He loves me as a friend, not much more, and even it was more, I can’t let it proceed.”

“Why?”

“You know as well as me how dangerous if an anchor got too intimate with his pilot. We’re in a deadly field, and what if I died?”

Jan said, “We know the risk. Yet as you say any moment we’d die to who know what reasons. Won’t you regret when things become too late?”

“No, it won’t. I’ll ensure that Steve survive to the last at all price.”

“You can’t promise that,” Wanda replied

“I’m Tony Stark. Very few things I set my mind to failed.”

At the end of the conversation, Jan and Wanda hugged Tony together. Jan said, “You may think you know the best, but don’t derive Steve from his choice to make a decision. Wanda said, “Good luck, Tony. Both of you’ll need that.”

After then Steve returned with Clint and Piedro, Jessica Jones led them back to the base with supply in hand. Tony thought about Jan and Wanda’s words and tried to shrug it off, but he found that it was getting harder to ignore them.   


* * *

  
When they returned with their supply, they found that the atmosphere didn’t improve. Peter whispered, “Sentry shut himself at the study. Logan had argued with him before that” 

Jessica Jones frowned. “What‘re they arguing about?”

“Not sure, but it seemed to be related to the last battle.”

“Does Luke know?” 

“Luke broke the fight. Now he’s talking to Logan.”

Steve said, “I’ll go to talk to Sentry.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tony said. 

Steve hesitated for a moment, then he said, “All right.”

They went to the study and knocked. There was no response. The door was locked. After looking at Steve, Tony picked the lock. Then they saw that Sentry was crying inside.  
Steve approached Sentry as if he were a frightened animal and asked gently, “Sentry?”

“What’re you doing here?” Sentry asked. 

“Jessica sent us here. She’s worried about you. We all do.”

“Drew? Why does she care? She definitely didn’t forgive me yet. Hey, I can’t forgive myself.”

“You mean the battle? But it’s an accident, and Carol’s fine.”

“It’s not an accident.” Logan’s voice suddenly interrupted, startling Tony a bit. Logan’s stout, but he could walk as quiet as a cat.

“Why do you say that, Logan?” Steve asked.

“He shot at Carol despite my explicit instruction not to. Hey, If I hadn’t forcefully disconnected him, he would be a bigger menace in the battle.”

“I have said I’m sorry.” Sentry’s voice changed, cold as steel. Tony frowned. Sentry was a bit... unstable, and he adopted a more ruthless and dangerous persona when he was stressed. 

“Would you like to tell us more?” Steve asked. 

“Nothing to talk about. It was an accident. I lost control of the dreamscape and shot at Carol.”

Logan said, “You promised me that you’d work better on your control.”

“Things happened.”

“It’s unfortunate, Sentry, Logan. But we still have time to work on it...” Steve said. 

“We have no time. We’re already 18 and our next birthdays were coming.” Logan interrupted. “We need to fight off the aliens fast, or we’ll soon be infected with Bliss too .” 

“Logan...”

“Leave us alone. We’ll deal with it. Let’s go to the gym, Sentry.”

Steve asked, “Sentry?”

“I can deal with Logan alone,” Sentry replied. 

Tony pulled Steve out of the study. Sentry and Logan might not like each other so much, but they did have a connection to each other. Probably because they were in the same boat together . They argued, then they fought, and they usually got all right soon after that. Tony hoped this time would also be like this. A broken anchor/pilot relationship could be lethal. 

Steve still looked worried, so he talked to distract him. “What work’re you working on these days?”

“Not very good, I’m afraid, but I finished a painting.”

“Show me.”

Steve and Tony returned to their room, and Steve took out his sketch book. Tony could recognize on the first page, the subject of the picture as the Central Park pre-Fall. It brought a bout of nostalgia and sadness to Tony. Steve must have sensed it, because he quickly turned to another page, with all the people as cute chibi. MJ was stealing a French fry from Peter; Logan and Sentry were wrestling; Carol and Jessica Drew were chasing a bird; Luke and Jessica Jones looked at them with a fond smile. Steve and Tony though were sitting at a corner playing with building blocks. Tony couldn’t help but smiled at it. 

Steve loved drawing, and Tony still remember how Steve beamed when he brought him art supplies in a scavenging mission. It was a sight to see Steve focusing on his drawing, trying hard to decide the right shade for the picture. Sometimes Steve opened the door and focused on his drawing and Tony always like to stop and watch. He wouldn’t say that he had an eye for art, his eye more for engineering blue prints, but he enjoyed Steve’s art. 

“Would you give me one of yours?” Tony asked. 

Steve paused for a while, then he flipped to a page and tore it off carefully. When he gave it to Tony, Tony saw that it was a sketch of him working in his workshop, with a wrench in his hand. It was a lovely picture and Tony said, “It’s great. Thanks.”

Steve smiled shyly and said, “You flattered me.”

Tony impulsively held Steve’s hand and said, “I’m totally sincere.”

There was a shade of blush on Steve’s face, and Tony looked at Steve’s azure eyes and thought that he was extremely attractive. He was about to say something stupid, he could feel it. 

The quiet moment was disrupted by a bout of knocking. Steve put down his sketch book and Tony ut the drawing in a drawer carefully. hen he opened the door and saw MJ. 

“I’m not disrupting anything, right?” MJ asked. “Anyway, Luke wants us for a briefing.”  
“We’ll be right up,” Tony said and he went to the meeting room with Steve, a bit regret for the easy time ending so soon. But duty was duty. 

At the meeting room, Luke said, “The last mission was a success and I believed that you have destroyed the base’s first line of defence, so here comes the next step: to further destroy the alien base.”

Tony felted excitement and fear, the usual when he felt before a big mission. He looked at other people’s faces. Carol looked calm; Jessica Drew leaned her body toward and looked thoughtful; Peter and MJ just looked excited; Logan ‘s expression didn’t change and Tony didn’t know how to decipher Sentry’s; when he turned to Steve, he found that Steve was looking at him too. Their eyes held, and then Tony moved his eyes away. 

Then Luke listed out the plan. The team would sneak around the base quietly, then surrounded the enemies and attacked until they destroyed the defence. The next step would be infiltrating the base and clearing it out. They nodded and got ready to fight. 

Tony put on the suit and carried out the preparation to connect to ANIMa with Steve’s help. Steve seemed wanting to say something, but he only said, “Good luck. I’ll be with you.”

“Of course, you’re my anchor.” In every way, Tony added in his mind. 

Steve smiled, and then Tony entered the Dreamland, ready to blast the aliens into oblivion. 

“Tony, do you hear me?” Steve ‘s voice transmitted through the com. 

“Loud and clear,” Tony replied

“All right, what do you see?”

“I saw that, that’s really weird stuff. The buildings are like … a cube floating in the air, and some stuff very alien. It was like a mix of modern sculpture you hated meeting mad engineering.”

“All right. I don’t receive unusual signal, so you can proceed.”   
  
“Rogers.”

The benefit of these structures was that Tony could easily hide in the shadow and used them as cover. Tony went cautiously, mindful for any alien scout. So far his way was clean. Steve guided him for a longer but safer path to get to the base. It was very smooth until Steve ‘s warning made him just avoid an attack out from nowhere 

Tony soon discovered that the alien he was fighting with was invisible to him, which put him at disadvantage. Tony ran in zigzag line and returned shot trying to judge the alien’s location from the direction of his attack. Then he ran beside a lake and splashed the water. He was surprised to find that the alien’s shape was showing.

“It seems that I’m dealing with a Predator,” Tony said to Steve in a sarcastic note. 

“You watched too much sci-fi movies. Go ahead then. Be careful.”

Tony thought back of the movie, and jumped into the lake, splashing more water on the alien. Once the alien’s invisible shield was out of order, it became easier to deal with. Several well placed shot spelt the end of the alien.”

“I think you watch too much sci-fi movies to have that taking place as a Predator,” Steve commented. 

“Well, you love those movies too.”

“I won’t admit to it, but now there seemed to be a bigger wave of aliens.”

“Understood.”

When Tony got nearer to the base, he joined up with the others and surrounded a particularly well armed alien. Carol jumped up from the ground to avoid a blast, and then she attacked with her sword, which the alien blocked with his hand cannon. Sentry punched the alien and made it backed up a bit, and Peter throw out a web to blocked him from escaping. Tony added a blast to it. Finally they destroyed the alien. 

But there were waves of aliens approaching when they got closer to the base. They did get through it, not without bruise and wounds. Tony also noticed that this day Sentry seemed to respond slower, and his weapon less powerful. It seemed that he still hadn’t fixed up the relationship with the others and it showed. But he was still doing all right, so Tony didn’t say anything more other than deciding to notice him more. 

They started to infiltrate the base, with their weapon raised. The base inside was like a labyrinth, and Tony needed to rely on Steve’s feedback to get to the core control room to destroy the heart of the base. When they reached there, Tony cursed. 

A time-controlled self-destructive sequence had started, and with the number of the enemies outside, they could hardly leave in time. 

“Go!” Tony shouted at the others immediately. They immediately left, only to be blocked by the aliens.   
Tony tried blasting the roof to make a hole, but it didn’t work. It seemed that there was no way they could return, and many images of people flipped before his eyes: his parents, Jarvis, Steve... Impulsively, he spoke to Steve, “Steve?”

“Tony, are you getting out of the place?”

“Take care of yourself. l...”

Then Sentry suddenly ran into the aliens and as his armour grew, he was punching through the aliens and he said, “Go!”

“But...”

“There’s no time to argue!” He threw himself to the aliens, which attached to him. Then Sentry exploded, bringing the roof down and the others soon escaped through it. Then they were forcefully discharged from the battle situation. 

Tony woke up to Steve’s worrying face. Steve helped him get out of the machine and then just hugged him. Tony returned the hug. He couldn’t catalogue all the emotion: shock ,grief, guilt, and one Tony didn’t want to reveal to himself, relief to see Steve back. 

All the people gathered in the meeting room again. There was a uncomfortable weight of silence. Even Peter and MJ, who were so cheerful and chatty usually were pale and had nothing to say. Tony figured that like him, the team hadn’t recovered from Sentry’s heroic sacrifice. 

Then Luke broke the silence. “Kids, I don’t want to say the bullshit that it’s a war and hero or something, but let us remember Sentry and what he did for us, and let we continue so as deserve his gift to us.”

“What’s the worth?” Logan asked. Tony noticed that he held his fist so tight that it was pale. Then he walked out of the room. Luke shouted, “Logan!” But he didn’t turn back. 

That night Jessica Jones gathered the team together and lit a white candle. “Let us recall Sentry, and let us sent him away to another world to rest.”

They started to talk about Sentry. Tony was surprised that they did indeed had a lot of memory about him despite Sentry as a loner. Everyone talked, and through talking Tony felt that the weight was slowly lifting off. The weight would be here, probably forever, but at least now it was lighter.

Then Logan started to speak and everyone was quiet. “Sentry always wanted to do big, like throwing aliens into the sun. His time’s coming and he knew, so... Let’s drink for him.”  
Peter went to the kitchen and took out a bottle of wine and they passed it around to drink. Steve succumbed to alcohol and slept quietly. Tony carried him back to the room and made a decision.   


* * *

  
One year later. 

Sometimes Tony still felt like he was living in a dream and any time he would wake up to the reality of continuous war and a destined end. However, his experience told him that even dreams wouldn’t be so ridiculously cheerful. So he had to accept this was the reality. 

After the final fight, where every ANIMa pilots worldwide worked together to deal the ultimate attack, The aliens were gone, and Bliss went with them. Tony still remember the adrenaline pumping through his blood, the moment that he thought he was giving up but yet carrying on, led by Steve’s calm but concerned voice. Clint and Carol sometimes bickered which one delivered the final hit, but deep at heart all knew that it was a collective effort. 

 

The still surviving Bliss patients gradually woke up, and Tony still remembered the tears and joy when he met a living Jarvis. They now had a future to speak of. 

Of course a future of reconstruction wouldn’t be easy. The infrastructure needed to be rebuilt, people needed to adapt to a calmer life, there were so many things to do here, but people had hope to improve the world. It was the most important thing. 

Now they gathered together to celebrate Dani’s birthday. There were a lot of laughter, friendly bickering, and Dani smiling. There was a cake made with a recipe without the use of eggs because of food shortage, but it was a cake after all. Tony was glad that the team was mainly intact 

Led by MJ, they sung the song Happy Birthday and cheered at each other. Tony couldn’t help but smiled that now birthday was no longer a looming threat held upon their heads, but a day worth celebrating that they wrestled with death and survived again. Some people were talking that they should start a new calendar after the year they defeated the aliens. It probably wouldn't come to fruition, but he could understand the sentiment. 

The team were starting a new life now. Carol wanted to be a pilot, just like she always had. “Only not driving a mecha now,” she smiled. Jessica Drew wanted to be a cop. Peter wanted to work in a lab, and MJ wanted to be a DJ. Logan didn’t mention what he wanted to do later. One day he just disappeared. Tony wished the best wishes to him. They’d always remember Sentry’s sacrifice and promised to return every year on that day to memorize him. Even when they were no longer together physically, their hearts were still together. 

As for Tony, one night when they both sat on the roof, Tony asked Steve, “What do you want to do?”  
“I’m not sure. I want to join the reconstruction work, to rebuild the life. Maybe I’ll be a teacher., to help with those younger than us. ”

“You’ll be a good teacher,” Tony smiled when he imagine Steve writing on a blackboard to instruct the students. 

“What do you want to do, Tony?”

“I want to be an engineer, to use my knowledge to help people,” then Tony gathered his courage to say, “Whatever I do though, I want to be with you together, like forever.”

“Do you mean,...”

“I don’t only love you as my friend; I love you.” Tony blushed, and grateful for his tanned skin tone to hide it. His heart was held in the middle. It felt like he had given himself wholly and completely to Steve, and now it was Steve to make a decision.” 

Then Steve smiled. “Do you know that I’ve been always waiting for you to say that? I love you too.”

Tony couldn’t categorize the emotion he felt right now. Surprise, joy, hope... all mixed together. “When?”

“Maybe when we had just each other to lean on then. Maybe during a battle, maybe just one day I looked at you and not many things happened, but I do know my feeling.”

“You never tell me.”

“I don’t want to push. We’re best friends, partners. I don’t want anything to come between them.”

“Oh, Steve...” Tony didn’t know what to say, so he pressed his lips on Steve’s. 

Steve’s lips were soft. Tony savoured the sensation of Steve’s lips, feeling the texture, exploring how Steve would respond with every small act. He gently persuaded Steve’s lips to opened for him, and their tongues tangled together, langled in an ancient dance. Tony put an arm around Steve and deepened the kiss, reverently, as if it were a worshipful act. They only paused when they needed to breathe, then they threw themselves together again. It only ended when Tony felt Steve shivered because of the cold wind and realized that the roof might not be the most suitable place for making out. They stopped their kiss reluctantly, and when Tony looked at Steve’s bright eyes and red lips, he couldn’t help but steal a few kisses before they finally needed to separate. 

When they walked down the stairs and joined the others again, Peter blew a wolf whistle and MJ said, “Congratulations!” Carol and Jessica winked at them. Carol said, “Finally.” while Jessica just gave them an evil grin. Tony couldn’t help but smiled . He had Steve. He had his friends. At this moment he was content.   



End file.
